Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Death of Chivalry

The evil man is the child grown strong – Thomas Hobbes

Not much good has come from feminism. A little bit, perhaps (after all, nothing is totally evil). But being that feminism is almost exclusively left-wing – and leftists are emotionally four years old – it has done far more damage than good.

Two of the most destructive four-year-olds, who conned a lot of women, and quite a few men, were Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. Neither of them, being Compleat Leftist Hypocrites, followed in the slightest their prescriptions for other women. They were female children who grew stronger but never grew up. Both, not surprisingly, completely ignored the damage their ideas were responsible for when women put them into effect in their lives.

Leftists hate society and many lesbians hate men (although both deny their hate and project it on “rightists.” This projection is typical of any four-year-old.). Since feminism is leftist/lesbian, how could good come from such hate? The fact this hate disguises itself as “justice” or “fairness” is something bad ideas always do. Evil always pretends to be good.

Feminism is also parasitical, and only exists because of the technology and civilization created by men. If civilization collapsed and went backwards 200 years, do you think feminism would exist, when people had to spend most of their time merely surviving? Luxury and leisure – thanks to men’s creativity and inventiveness – allowed feminism to flourish.

One of the bad things feminism has done is essentially demolish chivalry. I get the impression that many people don’t really know what the word means anymore – to be disciplined, to protect the weak and helpless, to be loyal and generous, to tell the truth.

Sounds like the Boy Scouts, doesn’t it? (By the way, I was in both the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts – and at their best they are very good organizations for young boys).

Chivalry originally exemplified the better warrior virtues, and in some ways still does. To protect the weak and helpless you’d better have some warrior spirit in you, or you’re not going to be much help at all. And it does take some courage to tell the truth when you don’t want to.

As I’ve noted, the Manosphere blogs are a reaction to feminism, which blames nearly every problem in the world on men. Specifically, white men (“The white race [white men] is the cancer of human history,” lied the envious leftist-lesbian hater Susan Sontag). In response to this hostility, most men have ceased to be more than minimally chivalrous because of all the abuse heaped on them, and have become hostile in return. What else could you expect? What goes around comes around.

In 2010 (not 1971, as you’d expect) I had two women tell me, “Men are responsible for all the problems in the world.” Both were spinsters on psychiatric drugs (I can’t call it medication), who lacked husband, home and children. They tried desperately to fill that void with cats and jobs they called “careers.” I occasionally wonder how they ever thought they’d get what the wanted with such hostility instilled in their characters through four decades of lies/propaganda/brainwashing.

One concept in the Manosphere is that of “the Alpha.” Alphas are supposed to be good-looking guys with money who get all the women and lead wonderful lives. It’s the Manosphere ideal of a man. At least, to the more bitter Manosphere bloggers.

That ideal definition of an Alpha hasn’t been my experience. Mine has been that many of them are drug-abusing cowards who ruin their lives by middle-age. The word that has historically been used to describe them is “cad” (the dictionary definition of that word is “a man who behaves crudely or irresponsibly toward women”).

Actually, a cad could be considered the Bad Alpha. A good Alpha is the exact opposite of a cad. A Good Alpha would be a chivalrous man.

A cad exhibits in his character and behavior most of the Seven Deadly Sins. For him these traits are chronic since they are part of what he is. I have found that all of them show lust, greed and gluttony. Ennui, too, since most of them cannot tolerate being alone, so they go from woman to woman – none of whom they get emotionally involved with.

Four out of seven is pretty bad. I could make an argument they’re afflicted with Biblical Pride (what the Greeks called Hubris) since they never believe what they are will catch up with them – they’re convinced they’re above the moral laws written on their own hearts. Eventually those laws mow them down, as they always do (one told me, “I got a taste of my own medicine”). Then their lives collapse.

That makes five out of seven sins. That’s a terrible score. I generally don’t see wrath or envy, although one cad I know quite well nearly had a seizure when one of the very few women he was seriously interested in when we were in college dumped him for me.

Perhaps most cads do show wrath, since I have found they don’t really like or respect women. Not that the more foolish and naïve women can see this contempt. Or the lies and attempts at manipulation.

For that matter, cads are also short on the Four Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance (restraint) and Fortitude (courage). (They’re called “cardinal” because they are of fundamental importance for morality - “cardinal” means “hinge,” as in on which everything else swings.)

The opposite of a cad would be a man with self-discipline and honesty. He’d have most of the opposite of the Seven Deadly Sins. He’d have the Seven Heavenly Virtues of prudence, justice, courage, temperance, faith, hope and charity (actually the first four are the Four Cardinal Virtues and the last three are the Three Theological Virtues). He’d be a grown-up Boy Scout – and that is a fine thing to be.

The word “virtue” is an interesting word indeed. It translates as “the powers of man.” Obviously, the Seven Deadly Sins are not virtues, in any culture in the world.

For that matter, the word “sin” isn’t accurate. It comes from the word hamartia, which comes from archery and means “to miss the mark.” That’s why current translations of Jesus’ sayings use “You have missed the mark” instead of “You have sinned.”

Incidentally, the world “repent” is from the Greek word metanoia, and the correct translation is “to change your heart and mind.” So, “repent from your sins” means “You have missed the mark so change your heart and mind.”

There is nothing in that phrase about changing yourself because of any “sin” against God. The offense is against the health and integrity of your own character (the word “holy” comes from the same root word as “health” and “wholeness” – and that is why health and integrity is the same thing).

The Seven Virtues would show themselves in chivalrous behavior, something that the Seven Deadly Sins don’t support at all.

These things – sins and virtues – are not taught anymore, even in church. They certainly aren’t taught in the catastrophes that our public schools have become. Even private schools don’t teach them. They don’t know they should.

Instead, men, trying to understand what is going on, have made a detour in the Manosphere concepts of Alpha, Beta, Sigma, Omega – inaccurate, simplistic ideas, none of which support any kind of civilized, chivalrous behavior.

Those Manosphere terms are from evolutionary psychology, and neither evolutionary theory nor psychology is a science. What is a science, and has been for over a thousand years if not longer, is the effect of “sins” and virtues on the life a person leads (these studies used to be called “natural philosophy” before they were shattered into worthless fields such as sociology and economics).

A society based on the Seven Deadly Sins wouldn’t be a society worth living in, except perhaps if you were a psychopath. And psychopaths are closer to monsters than human beings.

On the other hand, a society based on the Seven Heavenly Virtues and the Four Cardinal Virtues wouldn’t be a bad place at all. I think everyone instinctively know that. Unless, of course, if you’re a deluded, destructive leftist.

I’m a bit surprised it’s taken over 40 years for this reaction against feminism to manifest itself. Of course, when something is destructive there always is a reaction against it. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a while for that pendulum to swing back into sanity again.

This swinging back of the pendulum means feminism is on its way out. Its leaders will die and the world will be shut of them. It’ll take less than a generation before they’re gone. If we’re lucky, far less.